Billionaire calls for revisions to the failed Australia-Asia solar megaproject

• Andrew Forrest urged on Thursday for a rethink of a $20 billion+ project.
• The firm said the project requires vision and precise execution.
• To supply power to Singapore and Indonesia, the project entails constructing a 20 gigawatt.

MELBOURNE: Iron ore magnate Andrew Forrest urged on Thursday for a rethink of a $20 billion+ project to carry solar power from Australia to Singapore, which failed after a disagreement over funding between him and tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes.

This week, less than a year after raising A$210 million for the Australia-Asia PowerLink project, Singapore-based Sun Cable, which is mostly owned by Forrest’s private company Squadron Energy and Cannon-Brookes’ private company Grok, hired voluntary administrators.

In Squadron’s first public comments since the collapse was announced on Wednesday, the firm said the project “requires vision and precise execution”.

“Squadron Energy believes in the vision but believes how the project is delivered needs urgent change,” Squadron Chairman John Hartman said in an emailed statement.

Solar farms in Singapore and Indonesia

To supply power to Singapore and Indonesia, the project entails constructing a 20 gigawatt (GW) solar farm, the largest energy storage facility in the world, and the world’s longest undersea cable, which is 4,200 kilometers (2,610 miles) long.

Hartman stated, “exceptional governance processes and world-class project delivery capabilities, as well as developing bankable technology, will be required.”

He was not available for further comment.

Co-owner Cannon-Brookes, who initially invested in the project in 2019 and described it as “totally batshit insane,” said on Wednesday that he still supported the initiative’s goals and crew 100 percent.

After speaking to “very senior people” at Sun Cable, Australia’s energy minister, Chris Bowen, expressed optimism that the project will eventually move forward with a new finance arrangement.

“I remain very upbeat and excited about Sun Cable’s future,” Bowen told reporters.

Sun Cable, whose construction had been slated to start in 2024, is essential to Australia’s goal of becoming a significant exporter of renewable energy, according to him.

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